Rainbow striped Dotty dress

It doesn't get much brighter than this does it! Its making things like this that genuinely just bring joy to my life and show me why I love to sew. This gorgeous little dress was on my make nine this year, and so in keeping with Children's week on The Great British Sewing Bee it was the perfect time to sew it up. Its also been an amazingly sunny week here in the UK for Feb so what better time to add even more sunshine to your day. Read on for more gorgeous pics of this dress, pattern details and a list of current rainbow jersey stockists... 

A sneak peak and the weekend I got my Husband back

Today is great, the sun is shining, its a 4 day week (followed by a 4 day weekend), I spend an hour less in my car each day on my commute, There was a man leading a trail of ducks and I saw a man with a beard like a walrus! Can the week start any better? As well as this, as you know, thanks to Mr Fox handing in his dissertation, I finally got my husband back. I can't tell you how much more relaxed we both feel now that is all over with, suddenly life seems a lot less stressful. It was however my intention to spend as much of the weekend together as possible and not run off to get lost in little projects on my own. So aside from taking a couple of pictures for my post the sewing has been strictly off limits.

We did however have a lovely weekend. We bought a BBQ (and lots of meat to go with it), ate pizza, saw friends and generally just hung out together. The sun has been shining here so everything is pretty good.

I am not a huge fan of a 'what's on my sewing table' post, but do you know what, that's about all I got for you right now so you will have to lump it! If you haven't noticed yet, yes that picture above is a piece of shocking pink leather!!! I know its incredible! I picked this up from the post office Saturday morning and I can't wait to get started on my little leather project. Since buying this piece of leather I have had so much inspiration of things to make with it. Assuming my little experiment with this stuff doesn't go hideously wrong I can see me buying many more pieces in my future. I am afraid the project is going to stay under wraps for the moment so you will just have to watch this space.

 

What actually is on my sewing table is this little number on top (can anyone guess the pattern from the sneaky peaky picture underneath?). The Jade/Teal is some stretch cotton sateen with some black stretch lace over the top. I don't think when I started this project I realised just what I was getting myself in for! You can see from the picture above that I have overlocked nearly all the seam edges to make sure that the lace and the sateen don't move about too much when sewing them together. Yes this did take me an age but hopefully it will make the assembly a whole lot easier. I have also decided that I really like Jade and Emerald greens for some reason, I think I need to find more excuses to work it into my wardrobe.

And to finish off I finally bought myself a copy of the Winifred Aldrich metric pattern cutting book which was recommended to my by my sister. This book supposedly gives you all the tools you need to be able to design your own patterns. I am not hugely interested in pattern drafting as a full time game (I would much rather leave this to Rachel) but as my main reason for sewing is to make things which fit better I hope this gives me a much better understanding for alterations and fit going forward. I look forward to getting into this book, though I fear it might bring on some headaches before I fully understand it all!

I hope you all had a good weekend and found something to celebrate like we did, here's looking forward to the 4 day weekend ahead. 

New Year, New Dresses!

This year I will be ringing in the New Year in my new hand sewn Velvet Prom Dress:

The dress is the prom dress pattern from the great British sewing bee book. This is the first time I ever bothered to make a toile before just hacking straight into my nice expensive fabric. I have to admit it was a good idea given that I have never inserted an invisible zip, or used my new invisible zipper sewing machine foot. The toile came out pretty well for a first attempt and I actually think the fit on this version came out better then the finished one. The material is some thick cotton I was given a whole roll of for free and has a black strip in it. Its pretty think and heavy with just a slight stretch to it held the shape of the dress really well. I actually think I need to hem this (and hide the white zipper!) as its not a horrible dress. I might even be more inclined to wear this one that the velvet one in the future :/

For the actual dress thought I purchased some gorgeous 4 way stretch velvet from the internet specifically to make a dress for New Years. Its the perfect time for velvet, its warm and luxurious, with just a hint of extravagance.I have read some horror stories about working with velvet fabric, but actually this wasn't too distressing at all. I have a walking foot for my machine and I think this helped a lot as i really didn't struggle. The only difficulty I came across was not being able to press the seams easily, but as the fabric is so soft it didn't matter too much. Also, as the hem is a circle, and i can't press it I decided to omit a hem seam. I know this isn't the most professional finish, but the fabric doesn't frey and acts a lot like jersey so I am going to get away with it. It is slightly on the large side, which I am going to blame on the stretch and the weight of the fabric. The fabric acts a lot differently to the stuff in the toile but I can chalk that down to experience for next time. Sorry about the pictures, its a really dull day, and the fabric is not the best for showing off the seams.

The pattern was really simple to follow. It is down as something for the more experienced sewer but I think as long as you have some common sense about it this one is really easy. The pieces fit together well and there are not too many of them. I have to admit that I omitted the interfacing (you can't iron it on to velvet, that and I didn't have any!). I also didn't include the boning because after cutting it up and tacking it on to the bodice i realised the fabric was not firm enough (too stretchy) to hold it and it just made the bodice an odd shape. I would definitely make this again, I even have some leopard cotton I might use. However I have to admit I would prefer straps rather than a halterneck (a bra is an important thing to me) and I would prefer a centre back zip to a side one. But I would recommend giving this pattern a go if you have the boo, its very versatile. I have visions of leopard bodices with black skirts, or sequined bodices with a black skirt. There are endless possibilities here to use different fabrics and colour combinations.

Thank you for checking out this post, and if you got this far, I want to wish you a very happy New Year xx

My Version of Tilly's Picnic Blanket Skirt

I really enjoyed the Christmas edition of The Great British Sewing Bee, it was great to see it back on our televisions and I really can't wait for next years series. Along with that I have been really getting in to reading the sewing blogs I have on my list lately and its really inspired me to get sewing again. I thought it was a perfect chance to re-post a blog post from my previous blog on here. What makes it even better timing is that 1: this skirt probably fits perfect now, and 2: in my attempt to get inspired and back on it I am going to attempt to finish the top at the bottom of the post which has been sat half finished for 6 months! What really inspires me about sewing bee though is trying out something which is outside of your comfort zone, so I hope it continues to help me grow, my tailoring skills do need a lot of work. So here you go:

I know most internet seamstresses have come across Tilly's fabulous blog, and her 'Picnic Blanket Skirt' tutorial. Well, I wasn't going to give this one a miss was I!I originally thought I might make this up in the out to sea fabric, so went to the local fabric shop for some cheap cotton to make a mock up and check I liked the design. Well, those that know me well will know I cant walk away from the leopard print once I have seen it! So what if I made a mock up with fabric I adore, at least I will get some wear out of it (I think the shoes might be a bit much!).

This is the first time I have ever EVER sewn buttonholes and I am so proud of myself. I took the extra time to measure them, and did a couple of practice runs first. They came out so pretty and neat, and I love the little wooden buttons to match the brown.

After also reading Tilly's post about sewing with cottons I decided to add a lining. Now this is not at all in the instructions for the pattern but it was so easy. I just used an old bit of black synthetic fabric which I had lying around, I have no idea what it is but it worked a treat. It added a nice amount of weight to the cotton without it getting too heavy, and I hate wearing a skirt without tights so it stops the cotton from sticking to them. All in all I am very happy with the way it turned out. It was a great little pattern, and was so simple to follow but very informative at the same time. I think I might have been a little bloated when I took my waist measurements as it is slightly too large now on the waist. I will either sew some belt loops on to the waist band or save this for my winter wardrobe when I will be carrying a few extra pounds!

So what is on my sewing table next? I am trying out the 'tunic' pattern from the sewing bee book as the pattern is included. I am aiming to conquer my fear of jersey knit armed with a walking foot and a super easy pattern which doesn't include any binding on the neckline! Still sewing every stitch with my fingers crossed and my eyes closed.